Amar in Singapore for kidney transplant

Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh will be wheeled in for a kidney transplant on July 10, at Singapore’s Mount Elizabeth Hospital and Medical Centre. With both his kidneys failing, Singh had earlier been undergoing dialysis at Delhi’s Batra hospital.

“There is significant damage to both his kidneys and a transplant had been suggested to him,” said an aide of Singh. “We had been waiting for his condition to stabilise a little before he was flown to Singapore.” Reportedly, the kidney donor is a former Samajwadi Party MLA, but this has not been confirmed by anyone in the party.

Transplants are a complicated matter in India and Singh opted for Singapore because it has a more streamlined system.

The SP leader has been getting calls and visits from well-wishers. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee spoke to him and when Singh insisted that he would try and make it to Parliament for Mukherjee’s first full budget presentation after 25 years, on July 6, he was discouraged by the latter. Film star Sanjay Dutt and Amitabh Bacchan have already visited Singh in Singapore.